“Enhancing Life?” Perspectives from Traditional Chinese Value-Systems

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Kirkland
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Life Enhancement ◽  
East And West ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

In his introduction to this symposium, “Religions and Cultures of East and West: Perspectives on Bioethics,” Dr. Robert Sade defined its purpose as follows: “The objective of [our] discussions…is to explore the limits of enhancement technologies in light of what makes us essentially human, in the view of world-wide cultures and religions.”These issues would seem to be at the cutting edge of any informed deliberation concerning the merits of “human enhancement” technologies. For instance, the issue of how “what makes us essentially human” affects our reflection on issues of technological “life enhancement” is raised in a 2007 book by Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel, The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering.

Imagining Future People in Biomedical Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britta van Beers
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Future People ◽  
The Future ◽  
Biomedical Technologies ◽  
Human Genetic Engineering ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

Human genetic engineering and other human enhancement technologies bring about uncertainties and risks on both the physical and the conceptual and intangible levels. Much of the controversy surrounding these emerging technologies is due to the fact that categorical distinctions, such as between person and thing, and chance and choice, are blurred in radical ways. As a consequence, the emergence of biomedical technologies also entails, what could be called, metaphysical risks and symbolic uncertainties. This chapter explores the ways in which imaginings of the future of mankind and mankind itself have found their way into international legal regulation of biomedical technologies through an analysis of recent debates on the international ban on human germline genetic engineering. This prohibition, which is at the heart of international biolaw, is currently being questioned as recent scientific breakthroughs in the field of gene-editing are about to turn human genetic engineering into a reality.

Redefining the Boundaries of Humanity and the Human Body

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. Galván ◽  
Rocci Luppicini
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Ethical Question ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Technological Society ◽  
Technical Ability ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

What are the boundaries of humanity and the human body within our evolving technological society? Within the field of technoethics, inquiry into the origins of the species is both a biological and ethical question as scholars attempt to grapple with conflicting views of what it means to be human and what attributes are core to human beings within the era of human enhancement technologies. Based on a historical and conceptual analysis, this chapter uses a technoethical lens to discuss defining characteristics of the human species as homo technicus. Under this framework, both symbolic capacity and technical ability are assumed to be grounded within the free and ethical nature of human beings. Ideas derived from Modernity and Postmodernity are drawn upon to provide a more encompassing view of humans that accommodates both its technical and ethical dimensions as homo technicus.

Technic Self-Determination

2014 ◽  
pp. 203-224
Author(s):  
Franco Cortese
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Will ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
Enhancement Technologies ◽  
The Human Condition

This chapter addresses concerns that the development and proliferation of Human Enhancement Technologies (HET) will be (a) dehumanizing and a threat to human dignity and (b) a threat to our autonomy and sovereignty as individuals. Contrarily, HET can be shown to constitute the most effective foreseeable means of increasing the autonomy and sovereignty of individual members of society. Furthermore, this chapter elaborates the position that the use of HET exemplifies—and indeed even intensifies—our most human capacity and faculty, namely the desire for increased self-determination (i.e., control over the determining circumstances and conditions of our own selves and lives), which is referred to as the will toward self-determination. Based upon this position, arguably, the use of HET bears fundamental ontological continuity with the human condition in general and with the historically ubiquitous will toward self-determination in particular as it is today and has been in the past. HET will not be a dehumanizing force, but will rather serve to increase the very capacity and characteristic that characterizes us as human more accurately than anything else.

scholarly journals The Ethics of Genetic Cognitive Enhancement: Gene Editing or Embryo Selection?

Philosophies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Marcelo de Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Gene Editing ◽  
Cognitive Enhancement ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Embryo Selection ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Human Genomics ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

Recent research with human embryos, in different parts of the world, has sparked a new debate on the ethics of genetic human enhancement. This debate, however, has mainly focused on gene-editing technologies, especially CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). Less attention has been given to the prospect of pursuing genetic human enhancement by means of IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) in conjunction with in vitro gametogenesis, genome-wide association studies, and embryo selection. This article examines the different ethical implications of the quest for cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing on the one hand, and embryo selection on the other. The article focuses on the ethics of cognitive enhancement by means of embryo selection, as this technology is more likely to become commercially available before cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing. This article argues that the philosophical debate on the ethics of enhancement should take into consideration public attitudes to research on human genomics and human enhancement technologies. The article discusses, then, some of the recent findings of the SIENNA Project, which in 2019 conducted a survey on public attitudes to human genomics and human enhancement technologies in 11 countries (France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and United States).

Is P3P an Answer to Protecting Information Privacy?

2011 ◽  
pp. 331-347
Author(s):  
Noushin Ashrafi ◽  
Jean-Pierre Kuilboer
Keyword(s):  
World Wide ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Information Privacy ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Online Transactions ◽  
Privacy Preferences ◽  
The World ◽  
Enhancement Technologies

Increasingly the Internet is used as a common tool for communication, information gathering, and online transactions. Information privacy is threatened as users are expected to reveal personal information without knowing the consequences of sharing their information. To that end, research groups, both from academia and industry, have embarked on the development of privacy enhancement technologies. One such technology is platform for privacy preferences (P3P). Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), P3P has a number of prominent stakeholders such as IBM, Microsoft, and AT&T. Yet there is little general knowledge on what P3P is and the extent of its deployment by e-business organizations. This study is exploratory in nature and aims at addressing these questions; in particular, we look at P3P both as a new technology and as a standard. We use our empirical data on top-500 interactive companies to assess its adoption.

Knowing What to Wish For

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Vallor ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Enhancement Technologies ◽  
Normative Content ◽  
The Way

Through an analysis of the appeals to human dignity used by bioconservatives to criticize transhumanist proposals for aggressive development of human enhancement technologies, I identify an implicit tension within such appeals that renders them internally incoherent and ultimately unpersuasive. However, I point the way to a more compelling objection to radical human enhancement available to bioconservatives, a version of the argument from hubris that employs an Aristotelian account of prudential virtue in order to challenge the normative content of the liberal transhumanist vision. The vulnerability of the transhumanist project to this argument is underscored by Ortega y Gasset’s critique of technological mass culture, in which he suggests that humans may increasingly lack the prudential virtues needed to identify and authentically choose those ends worthy of technological pursuit.

The ‘capture or kill’ debate revisited: putting the ‘human’ back in ‘human enhancement of soldiers’

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-120
Author(s):  
J Francisco Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Military Necessity ◽  
Droit International ◽  
Droit International Humanitaire

This article revisits the cutting-edge ‘capture or kill’ debate in the field of IHL, offering a fresh outlook that reconstrues the notion of ‘human enhancement of soldiers’ from a normative standpoint. After sketching the debate and inquiring into its root causes, the article analyses the interplay between military necessity and humanity, in order to endow the latter with its own content drawing on the notions of military honour and human dignity. Finally, it presents a proposal for the moral education of soldiers during military training. Cet article revisite le débat moderne du « capturer ou tuer » dans le domaine du droit international humanitaire. Il propose une vision nouvelle qui réinterprète d’un point de vue normatif la notion d’amélioration des capacités humaines à des fins militaires. Après avoir initié le débat et recherché son origine, l’auteur analyse l’interaction entre nécessité militaire et humanité, afin de doter cette dernière de son propre contenu, en se basant sur les notions d’honneur militaire et de dignité humaine. Enfin, l’auteur formule une proposition d’éducation morale des militaires au cours de leur entraînement. In dit artikel wordt het toonaangevende debat over “gevangennemen of doden” op het gebied van het IHR herbekeken en wordt aan de hand van een nieuw perspectief het begrip 'mensverbetering van soldaten' geherinterpreteerd vanuit een normatief standpunt. Na het debat kort te hebben beschreven en de diepere oorzaken ervan te hebben onderzocht, analyseert het artikel de wisselwerking tussen militaire noodzaak en menselijkheid, om aan dit laatste begrip een eigen inhoud te geven die gebaseerd is op de begrippen militaire eer en menselijke waardigheid. Ten slotte wordt een voorstel gedaan voor de morele opvoeding van soldaten tijdens de militaire opleiding. El artículo aborda una vez más el afilado debate en torno a “captura o mata” en el ámbito del DIH, ofreciendo una visión renovada que vuelve a construir el concepto de “Realce Humano de los Soldados” desde una nueva perspectiva normativa. Tras examinar los presupuestos del debate e indagar sobre sus causas remotas, el artículo analiza la interacción entre necesidad militar y humanidad, con la finalidad de profundizar en esto último partiendo de la base de los conceptos de honor militar y dignidad humana. Por último, se presenta una propuesta a seguir en la educación moral de los soldados durante el periodo de formación. Questo articolo rivisita l’innovativo dibattito sul tema della ‘Cattura o Uccisione’ nel diritto internazionale umanitario, offrendo una nuova prospettiva che ricostruisce il concetto della ‘valorizzazione umana dei soldati’ da un punto di vista normativo. Dopo aver delineato il dibattito e indagato le sue cause alla radice, l’articolo analizza l’interazione tra necessità militare e umanità, al fine di dotare quest’ultima di elementi propri, attingendo alle nozioni di onore militare e dignità umana. Infine, presenta una proposta per l’educazione morale dei soldati durante l’addestramento militare. Dieser Artikel nimmt die brandaktuelle „gefangen nehmen oder töten“-Debatte im Bereich des humanitären Völkerrechts erneut unter die Lupe und bietet eine neue Perspektive, die den Begriff „Verbesserung der menschlichen Fähigkeiten für Militärzwecke“ aus normativem Standpunkt rekonstruiert. Nach einer Skizzierung der Debatte und einer Untersuchung ihrer Ursachen analysiert der Artikel das Zusammenspiel zwischen militärischer Notwendigkeit und Menschlichkeit, um letzterer einen eigenen Inhalt zu geben, der sich auf die Begriffe militärische Ehre und Menschenwürde stützt. Schließlich legt er einen Vorschlag zur moralischen Erziehung der Soldaten während der militärischen Ausbildung vor.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document